Album sales hit historic low

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The industry won't be able to recover from this. Music is for free every where now. DJ's are one of the few entities that are purchasing music. Joe Public will keep sharing files and others will stream Pandora, spotify and other streaming music sites. It's a shame, I honestly do miss the days of strolling the record shops in New York City and come home proudly with new vinyl. Now I buy from itunes and I can spend hours listening, sampling and purchasing great music.
 
DJ John The 1...I sympathize with you and others who regret that "free" music has led to the demise of not only vinyl but CD as well. I still play 45's on special occasion (70th and 80th birthdays) and those 50+ anniversary parties. Once every couple of years I do a "sock-hop" or "golden oldies" party. I really hate dragging those boxes of 45's and turntables around. On a rare occasion, I find myself recording to CD some 45's that just can't be found on Amazon or ITunes.
 
But, the iTunes tracks are scary when you see the wave form. I still spend a lot of time at the record shops and can email them a list of what I want and they'll have it ready to go, but I also look at other stuff that may be interesting. People are just not as anal about cerain things, but hope things improve as I've also seen artists coming out with new vinyl.

I've actually increased my spending in the last few months worried about what's coming in the future.
 
I never was a "shopper" when it came to albums.
As a early teen, I went in knowing exactly what I wanted to buy. (usually Led Zeppelin)
At 17, I started working at the radio station, and there was no need to shop for music.
I could listen to whatever I wanted.
Once I got into the mobile biz, I bought CD's because I needed them for work...
so there still was no "leisurely shopping" for music.
But I certainly miss having the physical album in my hand.
Like most of you guys, I loved putting a new album on the turntable, slapping on the headphones,
looking at the artwork and reading every word on it as I listened.
 
Honestly, I get sick of hearing music industry people whine and carry on about album sales being down. They're dinosaurs and frankly the labels, supporting musicians and studios who refuse to get on board with the new mode of distribution fully deserve the pain, since they're the ones who refused to jump on board the new. Downloads are a wonderful thing in my view. They drastically change the cost of doing business and eliminate the strange-hold that the distribution channel had over who gets heard. Now, EVERY artist has a shot at being heard and the ones who truly have creative product go viral and can be heard around the world. The people who are smart are figuring out how to use the new distribution to still make sales, with a difference that they keep the majority of it instead of an itty-bitty piece they used to make with labels involved. Few people seem to realize that the artists' money has never been off product sales. It's made on road dates through gate and in-person merch sales. Distribution is just a method of publicity.
 
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I still enjoy the sound of analog; however, it is the artists who have been cut out of money and promotions in the past that are now getting their due. Another segment of the music world fading away from mainstream--the LP and CD.
 
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I'm not sure what analog sounds like ... except for pops and clicks. Having moved mainly to CD since way back in 1984 (still have the Denon player) I'm good with the way it sounds. I disagree that analog is or was "better" .. just different.

Now, I like listening to albums, but that's a more visceral experience and a way to shut everything else off and listen .. plus it's cool.
 
Problem for a lot of folks (of my age) is that when we were listening to LP's...
we were in our teens and could only afford to listen to them on a crappy all-in-one system with bad needles and lousy speakers.
We didn't know what "high fidelity" was, and certainly couldn't afford it, anyway.
 
In the early 80s, I built a pretty good audio system. Hafler preamp and power amp, Sumo Charlie tuner, Nakamichi cassette deck (still have it), Denon CD player (still have it), Sony VHS HiFi recorder, EV Interface D speakers w/EQ box, and a New AR turntable with a Sumiko tonearm and Dynavector cartridge I spent $800 on (wish I kept it). All told, I dropped almost $3500 on the gear, and that was 30+ years ago. System was great. But the CD still sounded better .. and that was with early CDs.
 
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Nostalgia with vinyl and those "clicks" and "pops"! Although, I agree that CD has far superior clarity and ease of play.
 
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Another segment of the music world fading away from mainstream--the LP and CD.

Agreed...in a few years, stores won't sell CD's (or DVD's). Instead, there will be only singles and maybe a few EP's available only as downloads.

Face it, you can't stop the constant forward marching of newer and newer technology.

You don't have to like it, but you do have to accept it, embrace it and enjoy it.
 
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I was going to go 8-track shopping this weekend.
 
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Got those 8-tracks, too! But, the player I have needs some work. A few months ago I was wandering around one of the "You Trade-Sell-Swap" stores in town. To my surprise was an 8-track player in my terms "pristine" and only $5. I moved on but thought about it a couple of times as I passed by the store. Went back a week later...it was GONE! :( I guess in this day and age one had better grab it when one see's it!
 
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Nothing like listening to a song that stops midway, switches tracks and continues ...

Some audio trends are best left undisturbed (Elcaset, mini disk, slot music, Sound Tape).

I do want a reel-to-reel though .. a nice Revox B77mkII .. I keep looking on eBay for an affordable one.
 
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I've got a Teac Reel-to-Reel...and it still works. Just that the tapes are really brittle and need to not fast forward and stop often; total rewind isn't a problem. Got an old Dual direct drive turntable too. Now if I can just recall how to balance the tone arm. LOL! Got a Teac CX-650CR Cassette Deck, too, but it needs some TLC (oil some parts) so that they work. Unfortunately, when you store equipment like R-to-R and Cassette Decks and even Turntables in non-climate controlled areas...things dry out or dry-rot. I've got an old Pioneer Cassette Deck that has similar problems (oil) and TLC.
Fortunately, my AMI-Rowe Jukebox (45's) is in a climate controlled area all the time, so it works just fine. Got a couple of rubber bands in sealed packages for when the one loses its grip.
 
I had a service guy replace the drive guts on my Nakamichi belt drive cassette deck with a direct drive unit from a higher end model .. that was 15 years ago and no issues since (though I don't use it all that often). I sold all my Technics turntables. Kept a Yamaha linear tracking turntable, but the arm drive belt isn't working too well, so it needs some service. I called a local high end shop in New Haven and they said they used to sell that unit, so bring it on down .. need to do that.
 
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I had a working Nakamichi CD4 (CD player) that was superb and it stopped working in 2005. I tried to get it fixed but it was too old and parts were not available. I'm sitting here with a TASCAM CDR-2000 that works and another that doesn't. Made contact to service department in 2008 about repairs, but never followed up. Found a used one on EBay. I use it all the time to play CD in my office. In fact, I used it this weekend to copy from cassette to CD for a friend who wanted to preserve their wedding ceremony music and vows. Too bad the cassette was such poor quality. In the end I did get it copied and my friend was more than delighted. Really liked that Nakamichi CD4. I used it to copy CD with the TASCAM CDR-2000 until it (Nakamichi) croaked.
 
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